This invention relates in general to ovens for cooking food, and more particularly to a compact barbecue oven.
Barbecued foods have traditionally been prepared over open fires, and while this procedure may be acceptable for an occasional back yard barbecue, it is not suitable for the preparation of barbecued foods on a large scale commercial basis. Indeed, open fires are most inefficient, and require an exceptionally large surface area to cook foods in even reasonable quantities. Many restaurants that specialize in barbecue foods utilize commercial barbecue ovens for preparing their foods. These ovens often contain a rotisserie for supporting a large quantity of food in a relatively confined space, and have some type of firebox or burner arrangement. Indeed, the true barbecue flavor can only be obtained when a wood-burning firebox is employed, and in some of these ovens the firebox is located in the actual oven chamber, while in others the firebox is located remote from the oven chamber. In either case, the oven occupies a considerable amount of floor space and may not be suitable for restaurants that do relatively modest business in barbecue foods. Furthermore, many barbecue ovens of current manufacture derive most of their heat from expensive fuels such as natural or liquid petroleum gas or from other energy sources such as electricity.